


Fractured Reality

by ParvumAutomaton



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParvumAutomaton/pseuds/ParvumAutomaton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What if I woke up one day, and everyone I knew, my family, my friends, were a dream. What if none of them were real, what would that do to me?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fractured Reality

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted to my tumblr, same name, ParvumAutomaton.

Bart danced from foot to foot. His stomach clenched uneasily and his breaths were short. He had saved Ted Kord, helping him to stop both Deathstroke and Sportsmaster. But something was not right.

All the stories were consistent, in his future Blue Beetle used Ted’s scarab, the one that the Light was trying to steal. And that that scarab was not actually magical like Ted assumed, but was instead alien tech. Except it wasn’t.

Right after saving Ted, he explained the situation. And Ted was amazingly understanding about the whole thing. He even suggested faking his death via an explosion, so that the future would remain unchanged enough for Bart to have a shot at rescuing his grandfather, the Flash. Ted had made good use of the time after his fake death too. Both he and Batman descended on the scarab, studying it with a relentless enthusiasm. But they found nothing, no hidden tech. Nothing.

Before he was called off to Rimbor, Batman approached Zatanna who had confirmed that the scarab was a magical artifact. A battery that could be tapped with the right words. Dan Garrett had used the remaining power in it during his tenure as the Blue Beetle. But the power source gave out at the least opportune moment. Ted got the scarab next. It never responded to him because it was completely out of power. It was nothing more than some fancy jewelry. So Ted followed in his mentor’s footsteps without its aid.

It made absolutely no sense to Bart how traveling back in time forty years could affect an artifact that was around for several millennia.

Still, Bart had grown up with stories of Blue Beetle, the third one. The one that had betrayed humanity and helped to enslave the planet. He grew up with stories of how that Blue Beetle had waged a one man war on the watchtower that changed the course of human history. The stories all varied on the exactly how he had attacked and why. But there was something that was consistent, they all said that his rage could be heard in the days leading up to the attack by hikers and campers in a remote portion of the Texas-Mexico border.

Bart hadn’t waited for the reports to start. No, once it became clear that the scarab was not alien tech, he practically dragged a squad to investigate the area. Nightwing led the squad, it was the first time he was back in the field since Artemis was killed by the traitor Kaldur. The rest of the squad consisted of himself, Superboy, Miss Martian, and their stow-a-way, Beast Boy. He had popped while they were over Kentucky changing back from a mouse and asking what was going on.

Nightwing stopped M’gann before she could turn the Bioship around and drop her adopted brother off back at the cave. By the time they landed in Western Texas, She had begrudgingly allowed Beast Boy to help join in the search.

Not that the stories clarified what exactly they were going to find here, or even if there was going to be anything to find after the rescue of Ted.

Nightwing waited until Miss Martian had set up the psychic link, before pulling his disappearing trick. Which, Bart fumed, had absolutely no right working in the middle of the day surrounded mostly by sand and rocks and small plants. Miss Martian flew out soon after that eyes glowing and hands at her forehead. Beast Boy turned into a local species of lizard darting in and out of rock formations and caves. Superboy, meanwhile was squinting at the sun baked wilderness. After several moments he shrugged and started cocking his head this way and that, looking like a human version of Wolf. Bart was the last to fan out from the Bioship. He used his super speed to spiral out, taking the phrase ‘leave no rock unturned’ and making it literal.

Bart had just hit the edge of the Mexican border when he heard Superboy grunt over the psychic link. The Texan landscape blurred together as Bart converged on the small outcropping where he had last seen Superboy.

The outcropping had been replaced by a large crater. And when Bart sped over the edge of it he could see the opening of several large underground tunnels that the hole revealed. About 100 feet down one of those tunnels, where rays of the afternoon sun created a stark contrast to the shadow from the tunnel, Superboy was grappling with an armored warrior.

The armor covered his entire body with strange blue and black metal. Everything except the warrior’s eyes, which were tinged yellow and seemed to spark with light. And when Bart saw the mechanical beetle affixed to the back of the armor, with it’s long pincer like protrusions extending above the warrior’s head, Bart’s breath hitched. And images of the Big Bad Blue flashed before his eyes. But that was not now. This Blue Beetle was not that one, not yet at least. For if nothing else this Blue Beetle was as nowhere near the size of the monster of his future. This Blue Beetle was tiny, dwarfed even by Superboy.  

And then Blue Beetle sunk down on a single knee. The sudden drop sent Superboy tumbling forward, on top of Beetle’s shoulder. Bart caught the sound of metal grinding and both Superboy and Blue Beetle were propelled upward by Beetle’s jetpack. They hit the tunnel ceiling with a thud and fell back to the ground. Superboy landed with a thud and Blue Beetle stood over him.

Bart ran forward. Max speed, twisting at the last second so his shoulder and hip came into direct contact with Blue Beetle. Beetle staggered back exactly two steps before turning towards Bart.

He frowned at Bart, brows furrowed. His arms were held by his side and he adjusted his footing.

Blue Beetle broke eye contact first, glancing towards his shoulder to whisper, “Dude, no.”

Then there was a flash of dark clothing and five blinking red lights appeared on the front of Beetle’s armor. A half second later he was blown backwards into the tunnel wall.

Nightwing extended a hand to Superboy, as dust settled around Blue Beetle. Beetle watched the pair with narrowed eyes before whispering over his shoulder again, “He works with Batman?”

No one said anything, but half a second later, Beetle exploded into motion, extending a ram out of his arms and slamming into both Nightwing and Superboy.

“Where are Batman and Superman?” he growled.

Nightwing flung a smoke pellet, disappearing from Bart’s view.

Superboy charged Beetle again, “Not here, but believe me we are more than enough.”

Beetle crouched, letting Superboy crash into him before grabbing the Kryptonian around the waist and hurling him. Superboy knocked Nightwing out of the shadows. Blue Beetle followed closely behind, arm changing to a sonic cannon. He lifted the gun towards Nightwing and then stopped cold. His eyes unfocusing.

Miss Martian floated gently into the crater. Her eyes were glowing green and one hand was outstretched towards Beetle.

Superboy looked at Beetle then at M’gann. His eyes narrowed and his lips pressed tight. But he didn’t say anything.

Nightwing took a step back, and that was when Blue Beetles eye’s changed again, turning pure white.

Then before Bart could blink, Beetle gave a wicked grin. The sonic cannon changed to a plasma cannon and he fired off multiple shots. Nightwing leapt away, but a blast still got close enough to burn through the fabric of his suit and singe his skin. Superboy took another blast head on. It sent him crashing along the wall of the tunnel, gouging it with his body.

Beetle was on Superboy in a second, pounding him deeper into the wall with his fists.

Miss Martian’s gaze narrowed more and more. She was pulling in on herself and every muscle in her body had tensed up. Sweat was beginning to bead along her forehead.

Beetle blasted Superboy again with his plasma cannon.

Miss Martian let go. All the tension fell away, and she rebounded with a gasp.

Blue Beetle shook his head and turned towards her. His grin was no longer feral, but it was still present.

“Don’t like the Scarab much do you, _esé_?”

His arm reconfigured becoming a wide mouthed gun. “We’re not going to let you do that again.”

He lined up the gun.

And was slammed by two tons of angry green rhino. Beast Boy’s horn scrapped over the armor without leaving a scratch, but his bulk forced Blue Beetle back. They crashed into the same wall Superboy had gouged earlier. Beetle’s head slammed against the stone, leaving a spider web of fractures on the already broken wall.

Beetle began pulling himself up but froze half way between kneeling and crouching.

“You stay away from my big sis!”

Beast Boy had returned to his humanoid form, and was facing Blue Beetle down. His hands were planted on his hips.

Beetle just stared at Beast Boy, his eyes going wide, and only taking short breaths.

Beast Boy pressed his advantage, “Well, you gonna say something ya big dork?”

Beetle just opened his mouth. If he said anything Bart could not hear it over the sound of grinding rocks.

“Garfield!”

The wall crumbled. Beast Boy watched it with wide eyes.

Blue Beetle shot forward. He used his left arm to hook around Beast Boy and pull him close. Beetle’s right arm then formed into a large blue shield as he flung it over their heads. He dropped to his knees keeping Beast Boy beneath him as the rocks fell, covering both of them in tons of rubble and sand.

_{Garfield!}_ Miss Martian called again, reaching out through the psychic link.

_{I’m ok, embarrassed mostly.}_

Miss Martian let out a short shaky laugh. _{Hold on, we’ll get you out._ }

_{Actually, you might want to stay away for right now.}_

_{Why?}_ Nightwing questioned, although he still took a step back from the pile, just like everyone else.

Bart could already hear a high pitched whine coming from within. It was followed shortly by a bright blast of blue energy that cleared out a hole in the rubble.  

_{That}_ Beast Boy answered sheepishly. A few moments later he appeared from within the hole in the form of a small green mouse. Superboy quickly scooped him up and back-stepped, carrying him away from the collapsed tunnel.

The Blue Beetle appeared next. Lying flat on his stomach and pulling himself forward with his arms. When he was halfway out of the newly blasted hole, Nightwing was on top of him. He slammed an electronic device with three long sharp points into the seams of the scarab on Blue Beetle’s back.

Blue Beetle went rigid. He didn’t even blink, although his eyes created the illusion that they were following whoever looked at them.

_{So its a robot?}_ Beast Boy questioned as Nightwing motioned the team further into the caves. _{He didn’t seem like a robot.}_

Miss Martian hustled him forward _{He’s not a robot, not fully, I know he had a biological mind as well.}_

_{Some form of cyborg}_ Nightwing explained _{Probably with a nested AI, but the point remains the same, if his mechanical parts are shut down he won’t be able to move.}_

Bart didn’t join in the conversation. He just kept glancing over his shoulder. Forty years of terror stopped by a hastily whipped up device. If it were that easy…

_{But isn’t it mean to leave him paralyzed like that?}_ Beast Boy pressed.

_{We’ll grab him when we leave.}_ Superboy deadpanned. _{We are not just going to leave him here to rot.}_

_{But for now focus on the mission,}_ Nightwing glared, _{Impulse you know anything about this place?}_

_{Not at all, the history books don’t mention it, but I can give it a **run** through.}_

Bart heard Nightwing groan as he sped off down the tunnel. The tunnel walls were smooth, although they did have occasional scratches or scuffs. And the tunnels themselves were just wide enough for two people to be able to pass each other comfortably. There were no lights, twists, or branches in this tunnel. But at the end of it there was a giant room containing something that gave a dull red glow. As he got closer Bart could hear the background hum of machines.

Then he saw it. Rows and rows of red pods. Each one was on some form of mechanical base. Bart ran to the closest one and peered inside. Beneath the red glass lay a girl, about the same age as Beast Boy or himself, her arms had been gently folded and there was a scruffed up action figure tucked by her side.

Bart looked up and whispered, “that is a lot of meat.”

He couldn’t stop the Reach slang, not when he was looking at a sea of these Reach pods. There looked to be thousands of them. Bart ran down a row, each pod contained someone different, but they all contained someone.

Miss Martian’s voice broke his thoughts, _{there’s something really wrong here.}_

She was standing against the wall of the room, as far from the pods as she could get.

Superboy walked past her and up to one of the pods. When he looked in it his eyes narrowed. He spoke a single short tense line. _{Let’s get these people out of here.}_

Nightwing nodded, and plugged some wires from his glove into the pod that Bart had first approached. _{It looks like it is just suspended animation. I can shut it down.}_

Nightwing had time to time to press exactly three buttons before a cry of rage filled the room. And a scrawny fifteen year old boy tackled him. Nightwing didn’t budge, but he did stop messing with the pod when the kid starting pounding him with fists that bounced uselessly off the kevlar.

Nightwing gently grabbed both of the kid’s wrists. He opened his mouth to explain. But armor was already forming from the kid’s back. Swelling over his form like black ink that was soon accented by blue.

Blue Beetle growled “your little electronics don’t work so well against a human.”

His follow-up punch sent Nightwing flying across the room landing well away from the pods with a sick thud.

Superboy positioned himself between Blue Beetle and Nightwing, “You are not going to stop us from helping these people.”

Blue Beetle gave a hollow laugh, “Help? More like destroy the evidence of your ‘hero’s’ mistake.”

Bart blinked, “what mistake?”

Beetle sneered at Superboy, “You all really kept it hidden didn’t you. What you allowed to happen to all these people.”

“Let what happen?” Superboy growled, “we didn’t do anything to these people.”

“Liar **I was there**.” Beetle’s voice cracked, but he didn’t move.

“ **I was there** when Superman destroyed those tractor-trailers. **I was there** when that noxious cloud rose from them and blanked our town. **I was there** when Batman swept the streets in his gas mask. **I was there** when he assured my father that there was nothing to fear.”

Blue Beetle was barely speaking above a whisper. But Bart could hear every word, every quiver of his voice clearly.

“ **And I was there** when Milagro started coughing blood and the hospitals overflowed with patients. **I was there** when my mother called the Justice League, chewing them out and only getting useless platitudes, that they were ‘working on the problem’. **I was there** when my neighbors tried to flee, only to be stopped and shot at by national guardsmen, under the order of the quarantine. **I was there** when the first of my friends started dying.”

Blue Beetle clenched his fist, and threw his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“I was useless in fighting the disease for them, but unaffected myself because this Scarab. The Blue Beetle’s Scarab fused itself to my spine and made me immune. This was the only thing I could do. Save as many as I could, put them in suspended animation until I could get a cure.”

He glared at Superboy. Slowly, deliberately, closing the distance between them.

“But now the so-called ‘Justice League’ just ignores my calls. They just swept everything under the rug. And I cannot keep them like this forever. One by one they are deteriorating. And I can not do anything. But _you_ can. Contact Superman, contact Batman, force them to make a cure.”

Nightwing groaned and picked himself up off the floor. He explained patiently, “we can’t, Superman, Batman, and several others are off world”

“Excuses” Beetle hissed, raising his arm in one fluid motion and launching a giant blue staple at Nightwing, trapping him against the wall.

“Contact them!” He demanded again, bearing down on Superboy. His right arm reconfiguring to emit a sickly green light. “Bring them here make them fix it”

“Stop it!” Miss Martian commanded, telekinetically pulling Superboy back.

Beetle watched as he was pulled away, not making a move. But then a amber light started blinking on the girl’s pod. And Beetle grabbed Superboy’s shirt with his left hand, and pulled back his right making a glowing green fist.

“No! My family is dying and they can fix it.”

“Jaime stop it.”

Beetle turned his head to look at Miss Martian. He kept his fist exactly where it was. Not going for the attack, but not relinquishing the Kryptonite radiation.

“Jaime please let’s talk this over. I _know_ that you hate violence please stand down.”

“You read my mind didn’t you?” He spoke softly, staring at the blinking amber light, “Then you must know that that’s void now. It’s my little sister. She’s dying.”

He then fixed Nightwing with a glare and reconfigured his fist into a blade, that still glowed with a weak green light. “So contact Batman now or I will take Superman junior’s head off”

Bart exchanged a look with Nightwing who was still caught in the staple and shook his head. He was not Wally he was not strong enough to carry all two hundred pounds of Superboy to safety.

Miss Martian spoke again, “Jaime don’t make me do this, please.”

Blue Beetle only had eyes for Nightwing, “This was your choice _esé,_ this is the price that secrets bring.”

Bart saw it, Beetle did not move until Nightwing flinched. And when he did, Beetle frowned and swung his arm down. When it was less than four inches from Superboy’s neck Miss Martian’s eyes flashed.

The effect was instantaneous. Blue Beetle dropped out of armor with a gasp. He stared at his hands for several moments before running to the pod that the girl was in. He put his hand on the glass and his brow knit together.

“What did you do?”

He then collapsed over the top of the pod. The amber light was still flashing, but he was no longer glancing at it. He just murmured “no” over and over again.

With the Kryptonite gone, Superboy pulled himself up and shot Miss Martian a tight lipped glare. She didn’t look at him. Instead going right over to Blue Beetle and placing her hand on his back.

“Jaime?”

“Why would you call me that?” His voice broke, and he did not take his eyes off the corner of the pod. “That’s not my name it can’t be. My mother gave me that name. But mom doesn’t…”

“Jaime, I’m sorry…” she cut him off, reaching out with her other hand.

He pushed her away backing up

“Just. Just leave me alone.”

Superboy had moved over to Nightwing, and removed the staple that held him to the wall. He took a long counter clockwise path to get there, instead of the shorter clockwise path that would have put him into Blue Beetle’s line of view.

Bart moved to stand near Beast Boy, who was making slow careful steps towards Miss Martian. She had just moved forward and laid a hand on Blue Beetle’s shoulder.

“Jaime please just talk to me.”

He sank to his knees.

“I remember. I don’t know how, but I do. Clear as day. Milagro and I would get into these stupid arguments over the TV remote. She always used the cable remote instead, and would complain that I broke it when it didn’t work. I’d, I’d write messages on the back of each telling her she was wrong. And she would get annoyed and call me a dork or a techno-nerd.”

“ _Dios Mio_ we used to have cookouts in the back yard. Dad would hang his cane over the edge of the grill. I’d always felt guilty about that…” He gave a short bitter laugh, “I still feel guilty about that. I mean, he got it when he was shot defending a deadbeat employee. A deadbeat employee that he might have fired if I was working there. But he wouldn’t let me work full time at the garage unless I got all A’s. And in Spanish, of all things, I got a B. I spent a lot of late nights beating myself up over that with Paco. I mean I speak… spoke? speak it fluently. So I just brushed aside the work to focus on other classes…”

M’gann knelt next to him, “And your mom?”

Blue Beetle didn’t answer right away. And in the silence Superboy narrowed his eyes at Miss Martian and used the psychic link.

_{What exactly did you do to him?}_

Miss Martian never took her eyes off of Jaime but answered in kind. _{Do you remember ‘Red Sun’, or Red Arrow?}_

_{So that chemical spill story,}_ Beast Boy reasoned, _{it was a planted memory.}_

Nightwing nodded, _{made to get him to hate the Justice League most likely…but that would mean everyone here…}_

He trailed off, looking over the rows of people.

_{Quiet. He’s talking again and this is important.}_

“My mom, she worked as a nurse. Till the end she was helping people. Even as she got sick, she kept it hidden, and just focused on helping those around her. But man, you did not want to get on her bad side. She yelled at the Justice League. I mean, you know she would of, if…”

When he fell silent this time M’gann pulled the boy into a hug. He didn’t return it, but he didn’t pull away. He just sat there as M’gann slowly rocked.

_{Bart are you ok?}_ She reached out when Jaime made no move to talk.

_{Yeah I’m crash Miss M. You’re comforting a kid who lost everyone not the monster of my future. I know that.}_

Miss Martian looked over Jaime’s head and met Bart’s eyes, _{I’m glad. But he didn’t just lose everyone, it’s even worse than that.}_

_{How exactly do you get more moded than everyone you ever knew being dead?}_

_{Everyone you’ve ever known never existing. Guys, he’s younger than Conner was. Every single memory he has is fake. None of it ever happened. And these people here, are just empty shells. They are not now, nor were they ever alive.}_

Bart looked at Blue Beetle again. He was limp, his head resting against M’gann’s shoulder. He was not moving, and taking only short quiet breaths.

Bart spoke, “You mentioned a friend, Paco, what was he like?”

“Paco, oh man, we would do everything together, him, Brenda, and I. We’d just spend late nights walking the town and arguing over Star Trek. Or, after I got the Scarab, whether or not the Beetle Cave should be a thing, and if my dad would let us dig out the back yard for it.  Sometimes, if it was a quiet night and there was like a meteor shower or something we’d all drive out into the desert to watch. Well Paco would drive, he was the only one of us with a car. He had this old beat up red convertible. He loved that thing, even if we spent more time fixing then driving it. I bet that was where I learned…”

“Learned what?” Bart pressed quietly. He and Beast Boy had moved closer.

Bart reached towards Blue stopping just before he touched his shoulder. Beast Boy didn’t stop however. He turned into a small green puppy and pushed his way onto Jaime’s lap.

Jaime didn’t respond, he just clenched his fists and buried his head in M’gann’s shoulder. Bart knelt next to him and slowly reached out again. This time he didn’t stop, and instead lightly took one of Jaime’s hands into his own. Jaime’s hands unclenched, and Bart could feel small callouses beneath his fingers.

“You’re probably right,” M’gann whispered, “That would have been good practice for working on cars.”

Jaime pulled back his head and looked Miss Martian in the eyes. She met his look.

He continued talking.

“And Brenda. She and Paco would get in these squabbles like all the time. I swear it was more like babysitting. And he’s twice her size, but the squabbles would almost always end with her flipping him. Like Bam, she’d grab his arm and the next second he’s on his butt. However when it came to school, she was the responsible one. Half of those A’s that I got. They were because she’d come over to my house and just talk physics or something until I not only finished the work but understood why the damn thing was important. We didn’t hang out all the time though. She lived with her aunt across the border ever since her dad died. And as horrible as it sounds when he was killed in that DUI that was kind of a relief to all of us. He was this drunk abusive asshole. I mean once he hit her so hard that he put her in the hospital, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.”

Jaime had let his head rest against M’gann again. But he did reach up with his free hand and gently scratch Beast Boy behind the ears.

“It was a relief to both Paco and I that she was outside the quarantine when it all went down. We talked a few times with her on the phone before all the service in the area went out. I still remember Paco begging her to record some stupid wrestling show because the cable was already down. She called us both idiots, but that was just her way of hiding her fear. Like, she didn’t want us to know how terrified she was. But Paco and I we were ok as long as she was doing ok, and she was outside the zone.”

Jaime sat up straight and then froze, eyes opened wide. He whispered, “Outside. She. Was. Outside.”

He pulled his hand out of Bart’s grip to place it on M’gann’s shoulder. He gave her the tiniest of grins, “Could she, I mean is is possible, that my best friend exists?”

She looked away, “I don’t know. Maybe? I mean why else would she leave?”

Jaime gave a small laugh. Bart looked around. Nightwing was up and fiddling with a large computer console that was connected to the pods. Superboy has standing closer to the group. He had his arms crossed, and his lips set into a frown.

Finally he commented, “Or it could be to make this whole thing seem more realistic. I mean since when is everyone in a town completely isolated.”

Bart grabbed Jaime’s arm again and squeezed, “Don’t say that, she could be.”

Superboy sighed, “Of course she _could_ be. And Artemis _could_ still be alive too. That doesn’t mean that she is, or even that it’s likely. Look the point is, you get caught up in fanciful what if’s and not only are they more painful to let go of later, but you also lose track of those that you still have around you. Blue I’m sorry but…”

Jaime’s shoulders fell along with his grin.’“No it’s ok, _esé_. I mean I get it. Mouth got ahead of my brain you know.”

“Yeah I know.”

Nightwing looked up from the control panel he was working at, and commanded in a strained voice, “Save it for later, we need to get out of here, now.”

Bart stood and offered his hand to Jaime, talking quietly, “Yeah, I doubt the Reach are going to appreciate us taking you off mode.”

Blue raised an eyebrow, “Off mode? Reach?”

Bart shrugged, “Alien invaders, long story short in the future they used you to conquer the Earth, I came back in time to stop it.”

“Oh.”

Nightwing called again, “Cut the chatter, there’s a bomb here like one from Melina Island, and we’ve got a minute, max. Move!”

Bart started down the tunnel. He was a dozen steps in when he turned to check on the rest of the team. They were all behind him except for Blue Beetle who had gone the opposite way, over to the control panel Nightwing was working at prior. He was armored again and had one arm reconfigured and plugged into the terminal.

Bart ran back and grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him in vain, “Come on.”

Blue shrugged him off. “I can slow down the timer on this, but it’s gonna… Try again, slower and without the Tech jargon, I don’t understand half those words.”

Blue’s eyes focused back on Bart, “it’ll lock the armor, I’ll need to do a soft reboot before I can move again. And by then, no more time. But it’s better this way.”

He was no longer looking at Bart, and instead was glancing over his shoulder again, “Better they can’t use us right? … Ok then we agree, better they can’t use us.”

Bart huffed, “No we do not agree!”

Beetle focused on him again. “Sorry _esé_ , what’s done is done. Besides I’m over a ton in the armor. And this kind of heroics, it’s kinda just who I am…”

He paused, “It is isn’t it?”

“Of course it is.”

“Come on Impulse,” Nightwing called from the tunnel, “how much time Beetle?”

Beetle’s arm reconfigured back to a normal arm, he looked towards Nightwing with his eyes, but did not, or could not, move his head. “You’ve got four minutes now. Go!”

Bart ran to Nightwing’s side. He was only focused on the forms of Miss Martian and Beast Boy ahead of them. There could be no looking back. Almost out.

The four of them arrived at the Bioship. Two minutes, Nightwing turned to Bart, forcing him to meet his eyes. “It’s not your fault. He made his choice, you couldn’t have made him come with us.”

Superboy’s heavy footfalls sounded on the Bioships floor, “I can.”

Bart turned as he dumped Blue from his shoulder. Blue landed with an indignant squawk followed by a resounding thud. Superboy collapsed next to him wiping the sweat from his brow.

Bart barely registered the Bioship taking off, he barely registered when the shockwave hit it. He just watched Jaime flex his hands and then roll to a sitting position as the armor melted away.

Jaime stared out the window of the Bioship. The light from the flames casting shadows over his face.

“So now, I really have nothing.”

Bart looked out the window, as well. “You still have your memories.”

“Easy for you to say.”

Bart poked Jaime who responded with an exasperated sigh before turning to look at Bart.

Bart made eye contact and spoke, “I told you I came from the future, right? Everyone I know, everyone I loved, they disappeared the second I stepped in my time machine. I changed the past, dude. Which is crash since the future is moded. But Nathanial, my parents, my friends, they’ll never exist now. At least not how I knew them. All I’ve got are my memories.”

Bart shrugged, “doesn’t mean it isn’t real though.”

Jaime sighed, “thanks.”

Bart grinned, “anytime Blue. Say have you ever had this snack called ‘Chicken Whizzies’ they are totally crash. My cousin got me hooked.”

Jaime slowly returned the grin, “yeah I like them. I mean I remember liking them. I’ve never actually had them, I guess.”

Bart flung his arm around Jaime’s shoulders, “then we will rectify your lack of snack food.”

His other arm gestured wildly as he listed even more snacks that Jaime absolutely had to try. Garfield soon joined in. And they spent their time talking of giant tofurky sandwiches smothered in gravy and apple sauce, and salads topped with ice cream and doritos.

Jaime, although looking slightly green, was giving them a slight smile and insisting that there was no way, in his lifetime, he would have time to try all of it.

As they neared the cave, the talk had calmed down into what they could actually make with the kitchen at the cave.

When the Bioship landed, Nightwing pulled Blue Beetle aside. Bart hung back and caught snippets of the conversation. Like the location of the spare rooms in the cave, and something about Black Canary.

With that, Bart let them have their privacy. Opting to wander into the command center to wait for Blue. Garfield, M’gann, and Conner had already dispersed. From the clanging of pots in the kitchen he had a guess as to where M’gann was. And that settled it, he was not heading back to the Garret’s until after dinner.

Mal was in the command center, Mal was always in the command center. He had a large three dimensional Earth projected. With search grids and patterns layered on top of it. There was a picture of La’gaan set up above the projection. Bart looked away quickly. He really wished that he could help, but to be honest although Lagoon Boy was one of the heros that survived the longest, none of the stories of how he had been rescued survived. Or where he had been taken. Mal had asked him twice about it, so had M’gann after the failed Cape Canaveral mission. They must have assumed that he was trying not to change the time-stream. But the truth was that he just didn’t know. Besides, messing up the time-stream was what he was here to do. Although that had consequences, like Artemis, who Bart was pretty sure, was not supposed to be dead yet.

Mal rolled his eyes. Bart froze his foot mid tap. He glanced at the clock on the console and sighed.

Nightwing entered the room with Jaime a very long 147 seconds later.

“Who’s the kid?”

Jaime didn’t answer, and Bart was by his side attempting to pull him towards the kitchen. He’d let Nightwing answer the questions.

But Jaime was not moving. He was just staring at the screen, mouth agape.

“He’s real?”

Bart stopped, “Huh?”

“Lagoon Boy is real? I thought…”

M’gann had come out from the kitchen at the mention of La’gaan. Nightwing and Mal both stared at the boy. Jaime ran his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t get it.”

Miss Martian went to his side and softly asked “Where did you meet him Jaime?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the screen, “Last winter break, we took a family trip to New Orleans. I met him there, he was cool. I just. I didn’t even think…”

“Stay with us Jaime,” she requested, “just tell us what you remember.”

“We hung out mostly. I mean my parents were pretty cool with the whole superhero thing. And Milagro, well, the dude could like multiply his strength a lot, plus he was agile and graceful. All of which made him a better hero than me in her book.”

“Were you jealous?” Nightwing questioned.

“No, it was the same way Paco was cooler than me because he’d bring her toys. Or Brenda was a better babysitter cause she’d watch that pony show with her. It was just. Just Milagro’s way of telling me she approved of my friends without getting all mushy.”

“So what did you talk about?” Nightwing pressed, moving in front of Jaime and forcing eye contact. “Think.”

“I… I don’t know. I’m not up on this whole superhero who’s who. But several times he did come back to something about an Aqua-Traitor, somewhere in the Pacific.”  

The only sound that Bart could hear was the heartbeats of his teammates.

“Beetle was there anything else,” Nightwing pressed, voice barely above a whisper, “think, the Pacific is a big place.”

“I don’t know! I just don’t…” Jaime fell silent and cocked his head to the side, “The ship?”

“What ship?”

“I, er, I scanned the ocean for him, to see if I could find anything. It was a long shot. But the Scarab picked up a ship. Non-terrestrial in origin.”

“And we’re just finding out about this now?” Mal asked incredulously.

“I tried but soon after was when everything… I mean… It didn’t, it’s not.”

Jaime pulled his arms in and hunched over. His breathing was slow and deep.

“I get it,” M’gann whispered. “But if you could tell us where that ship was, it could really help us.”

“Um ok…” Jaime nodded, “but it’s probably moved by now? … Is that the current location? It looks the same…Oh nevermind, it didn’t move then… Um that’s just a bunch of number’s I’m gonna read something wrong, and they’ll wind up in like Amsterdam or something… Yes that’s bad.”

Jaime hesitated for a second and then walked up to the globe project. He pointed his finger at some spot in the middle of the Pacific. Three long numbers, written with Blue script, projected from the tip of his finger. Latitude, longitude, and depth.

“It’s here. The ship is here.”

Mal walked forward to stand behind Jaime. He copied down the numbers. Then he put a hand on Jaime’s shoulder and started to speak. But Bart did not hear what he said.

Nightwing had grabbed Bart by the arm. Pulling him into the hallway outside of the control center along with Miss Martian.

He spoke in a low whisper, “You two are our resident experts on this Blue Beetle, what do you think?”

Miss Martian spoke first. “Jaime, at least, I trust. But that robot scarab that took control when I first blasted him, I don't know. Honestly, there is no way for me to get a read on that. I mean, it’s definitely not biological.”

Nightwing nodded, “And it’s obvious that he got the information from that scarab. Impulse?”

“I don’t know. I mean I trust him. He’s definitely not the same as the Blue Beetle from my time. And besides,” Bart shrugged, “do we _have_ any other leads?”

Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, not yet. I was hoping one would come through soon, but if we can get La’gaan back without… Ok lets do this. We’ll hit them hard, all hands on deck. Mal will coordinate from here. Beetle will also sit this one out, no sense in risking hidden scarab programing emerging or hand delivering him back to our enemies.”

Bart scuffed his left foot against the ground. “I don’t like leaving him alone.”

“We are going to need all the help we can get for this, Impulse. Besides I have an idea for who can watch Beetle.”

Nightwing did not tell Bart anymore of the plan. And Bart did not push him the rest of the night.

Instead he spent his evening with Jaime, Garfield, and M’gann in the kitchen.

M’gann ruled the kitchen with an iron spatula, and Garfield and Bart made it a game to try and sneak food from under her nose. Jaime was not helping them, but he was also not stopping them. Instead he chose to snicker behind his hand when they got caught.

Bart played off of that and started pulling out more and more egregious thefts from the pantry. He finally got a laugh when he showed Jaime the 30 oz tub of Mayonnaise that he tried to take.

Dinner went smoothly enough. Nightwing left before it was served. Mal grabbed his to go, and carried his plate back to the control center. Conner sat on one of the green couches. carefully not looking at M’gann and Garfield who had taken positions on the other one.

Bart was about to join them when he noticed that Jaime was sitting at the bar overlooking the kitchen. He was half turned in his stool to face the back of the couches. Bart sat next to him.

“You know, you are allowed to join us.”

Jaime kept staring at some point over M’gann’s and Gar’s heads, “If you say so. It’s just. My mom would… I mean.”

Jaime sighed and made a gesture with his hands, “crumbs in the…nevermind”

He went back to pushing his food around with his fork.

“Well, your heart’s in the right place. But this cave has gone the the wolves. Figuratively and literally. One it plays host to speedsters and well food etiquette, not our strong point. Plus Wolf is, you know, a wolf.”

“Creative name.”

“All thanks to Superboy, a.k.a. Conner. What? Don’t look so shocked Secret ID’s are so retro.”

Jaime gave him a grin and Bart continued on. “Anyway Conner’s reasoning was that Wolf was a wolf so there was no need to get super creative. The same is true with Sphere, most of the time she’s a sphere. In fact I’m kinda glad you already had a name, otherwise…”

Bart stopped cold. He just wanted to slam his head onto the counter. Stupid.

But Jaime laughed, “otherwise you might be calling me Human?”

“That or you’d wind up named after a character on a T.V. show.” Bart said a little too quickly with a nervous laugh.

“If I wound up being Jean-Luc. You know. I think I’d be alright with that.”

He took a bite of M’gann’s cooking, focusing on eating. Bart followed suit, clearing his plate and the leftovers in the kitchen.

It was soon after that Garfield called the two of them over. Both M’gann and Conner had left the living room. So it was just Garfield, Bart, Jaime, three controllers and a massive T.V.

Garfield chose some racing game from the team’s library. And despite popular opinion Bart’s super speed did not give him an unfair advantage. So he had better reaction times than most, that didn’t mean that he could force the animated go-cart to go any faster. And if he tried to move too fast he would either break the controller or cause the character to lose control. He’d make a correction, and to his point of view nothing would happen, so he’d correct more. And once the character did move, that was when Bart would realize that he had overcorrected, and would try to correct the error. Doing the same thing that caused the problem in the first place. No, video games did not hone Bart’s reflexes, rather they honed his patience.  

Jaime easily won the first game, zooming through a shortcut and getting power-ups that neither Bart nor Gar knew anything about.

The next game Jaime did worse. Mostly because he was distracted by trying to direct Bart, who had fallen about a lap behind, to one of his hidden shortcuts. This distraction was all that Gar needed to launch an offencive of turtle shells and take the lead. Jaime laughed at Garfield’s victory dance.

The third game Jaime won again. But Bart noticed that he was blinking a lot, squeezing his eyes shut for a little too long. He only gave a quick smile after this victory before hiding his eyes and taking slow breaths.

The fourth game Jaime lost hard, coming in behind Bart. He congratulated them both, before calling it a night and hurrying out of the room going in the wrong direction to get to the bedrooms.

He reappeared several minutes later and gave them a sheepish smile before admitting that he was totally lost. Gart gave Jaime the tour of the cave before setting him up in the room across the hall from his own.

Garfield didn’t bring up Jaime’s red eyes or the slight quiver in his voice. Bart didn’t either.

The next morning however, Bart did arrive at the cave bright and early. Only to spend the next two hours impatiently swinging his feet or moving from chair to chair.

When Jaime was finally released from his meeting with Black Canary, He walked back towards his room with a quick pace. His head was down.

Bart was by his side in a second. He grabbed Jaime’s arm and pulled him towards one of the cave exits. Jaime didn’t fight him.

They spent the day at the beach. It was too cold for either of them to feel comfortable swimming. But Bart would run out onto the surface of the water, turn quickly kicking up a wave of water and then return to shore. Jaime would stand near the shore and laugh.

Once Bart was bored with showing off his super speed he declared, “You know what I haven’t done before, made sandcastles. Come on I know you want to make one. It’ll be crash.”

Jaime laughed, but he knelt near the surf and started digging a moat. Bart quickly joined him, grabbing the wet sand and dripping it onto the mound in the center. He was creating spirals of hardened mud. But about halfway through the process, Jaime began blinking quickly and rubbing his eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Jaime answered a little too quickly, “I just, sand in my eye. That’s all. Really.”

Bart shrugged and then sprinted back out onto the ocean stirring up a wave that crashed into the shore and washed their castle away. Jaime managed to jump away, but not before the water soaked the sleeves of his hoodie.

Jaime laughed, “ _Hermano_ , what was that?”

Bart shrugged, “Sorry got bored.”

Jaime responded to that by removing his still wet hoodie, and wringing the sleeves over Bart. The sea water splashed on Bart for a split second, before the speedster retreated.

Jaime called after him, “Still bored?”

“Ha ha, this means war you know.”

Bart sprinted off, and rummaged through the cave grabbing towels, and some snacks before returning to the beach a second later. He tossed Jaime the towel and sat on the sand.

“I thought this was war?”

“Oh it was and I won.”

Jaime raised and eyebrow before asking. “And how exactly do you figure that?”

“Because I got you more wet then you got me. And now I pretty sure you’re not going to keep trying to soak me.”

Jaime laughed and laid back on the towel. “Point taken.”

Bart grabbed some chips and sat next to him. They sat in silence for a while, Jaime watching the clouds pass and Bart enjoying his food.

Jaime was the one who broke the silence. “Thank you.”

Bart raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

Jaime rolled onto his side to look at Bart. “For today, for not…I mean, you didn’t have too.”

“Course not,” Bart agreed, “I wanted to.”

Jaime didn’t press him any more. And they lapsed back into an easy silence.

It felt like no time had passed when they heard M’gann calling. “Jaime, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere.”

“Oh.” Jaime jerked into a sitting position, “I’m sorry I…”

“No need to apologize, I just wanted to make sure that you had everything you needed. Clothes and such.”

Jaime rubbed the back of his neck. “No I’m good. I mean the Scarab can synthesize anything that I want to wear. It’s fine.”

She looked at him with an amused smile. “Really it’s no problem. Besides the team is funded.”

“I’m not getting out of this am I?”

M’gann laughed, “No you are not. Oh and Bart, I need you to go get ready, Nightwing called, we are leaving in the morning.”

Bart nodded, and as he left he noticed her skin changing to hide it’s green hue as she dragged Jaime away from the Beach and towards Happy Harbor.

After a fitful night’s rest Bart arrived early the next day at the cave. Jaime was free this morning and was sitting at the bar eating M’gann’s homemade breakfast. Bart had just joined Jaime sitting at the bar when Nightwing came in.

“Get ready Impulse, the team is leaving in ten.”

Bart rolled his eyes, and grabbed some food from the kitchen. He was back less than a second later. Jaime was smiling at him, “good luck, and stay out of trouble, _hermano._ ”

“Trouble? Me? Never.” Bart laughed.  

“Oh and Beetle,” Nightwing interrupted their banter, “there’s someone here to see you too.”

Now it was Jaime’s turn to roll his eyes. “A babysitter really? Come on _esé,_ I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m at least twice that age.”

Nightwing shook his head and smiled, as a new face in blue spandex and yellow goggles joined the conversation.

“Well he’s got my sense of humor at least, that’s a plus.”

Jaime stared at Ted Kord, the previous Blue Beetle and gaped.

“I thought you were dead. Gah, sorry, that was rude. I mean, there’s so much I wanted to ask you before. Which I guess, you know, doesn’t exist. Um… you do know right?”

Ted nodded, but didn’t make a move to break into Jaime’s speech.

“I mean I looked, sorry, present tense you’re alive. I look up to you. A lot. Being the Blue Beetle was overwhelming at first.”

Jaime then lost the grin that he gained when he said ‘you’re alive’, looking at the floor and continuing on slowly.

“And I would totally understand if you don’t want me to be Blue Beetle. I mean you, you are just such a strong hero, always doing the right thing. Always being clever never resorting to excessive violence. And I, I’m just, you know, made to use your name to take down the Justice League…”

When Jaime fell silent again, Ted walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Jaime jumped with surprise and met Ted’s eyes.

Ted spoke.

“I think you’re doing a fine job as a hero, hell I’d be proud to call you Blue Beetle. You saved Beast Boy’s tail, literally, even when you thought they were the enemy. Kid you also tried to save as many people as you could in an impossible situation. And as for being made to destroy the Justice League. Well there’s this saying. ‘You don’t get to choose the circumstances of your birth, but you do get to choose what you do with them.’”

Jaime hung his head again and gave a sigh. “My dad, he said that. Gave me a whole speech about it when I was eight.”

“Well then,” Ted said patting Jaime on the shoulder, “your dad _is_ a wise man.”

Jaime looked up, “yes, yes he is.”

Ted threw his arm around Jaime and pushed him towards the kitchen pantry.

“And as for me being a perfect hero, well. We’ll get some cookies and I can tell you all about the time I almost caused the Martian Manhunter to destroy a city…”

Bart watched them go before heading to the Bioship with Nightwing.

“So what’s the plan boss?”

The plan involved a lot of waiting. Nightwing held them up until they saw one of Black Manta’s ship leaving the alien vessel. That was all the proof that was needed for the operation to go.

Miss Martian left the Bioship first. She swam through the ocean and then density shifted into the enemy ship.

Bart paced the Bioship while Miss Martian searched. Several tense minutes later they received her psychic communication.

_{I’ve found Lagoon Boy, and over a dozen other hostages. I’ll move on your mark.}_

_{Acknowledged.}_ Nightwing replied as he maneuvered the Bioship to the docking bay that Black Manta’s ship had just left.

Nightwing gave his order and the team exploded into action.

Bart, carrying Beast Boy as a lizard and a tiny Bumblebee followed Miss Martians directions to meet up with her and to provide additional cover for the hostages escape. They ran past Wonder Girl and Superboy who were securing the docking bay, and Batgirl and Robin who were helping to clear the escape route. Nightwing himself stayed onboard the Bioship, ready to pilot it at a moments notice.

By the time Bart made it to the Miss Martian, the hostages were starting to get their legs under them. Most notably a red-haired girl was making the rounds opposite of Miss Martian. Between pulling her fellow hostages to their feet, she would glance at the door.

“Nineteen including myself,” she reported. “We should go.”

Bart took point followed closely by the red-haired girl. Beast Boy and Bumblebee guarded their sides and Miss Martian took the rear.

Bart could hear the sounds of battle from Batgirl and Robin when the hostages were stopped by an armed contingent of Reach guards. One of which reached forward and grabbed the girl before Bart realized what they were doing.

The Reach Scientist then approached muttering. “Of all days for the Warrior to be out checking on the Abnormality.”

She then made a gesture and the reach shoulder pointed his weapon at the held girl and focused on the heros, waiting for them to make a move. The heros meanwhile had frozen out of concern.

“Good," The Scientist clikced, "now nobody try anything or …”

The rest of her speech was cut off by an indignant squawk. Bart caught the tail end of the fight. The Reach soldier went flipping over the girls shoulder, and landed with a thud on the ground. She grabbed his weapon, and pointed it right at the Scientist.

Bart made his move. Bodyslamming Reach soldiers, while Bumblebee shocked them and Lagoon Boy pounded them flat. Beast Boy and Miss Martian provided cover for the rest of the hostages.

“Not too shabby,” the girl admitted once all the soldiers were taken down. She rejoined the hostages, but did not relinquish her weapon.

The group was on the move again, and around the next corner was Batgirl and Robin, along with an unconscious contingent of soldiers. The group made their way into the docking bay and onto the Bioship without further incident.  

The hostages were ushered into a lower section of the ship while the heros convened on the flight deck.

Nightwing piloted the Bioship away from the Reach craft and began its ascent towards the surface.

They were quiet until La’gaan spoke.

“I knew you’d come for me Angelfish, and I’m sorry, this is my fault for trying to track him down on my own.”

Superboy snorted, “I’ll say.”

“All missions can have unexpected parameters.” Nightwing mediated.

La’gaan frowned, “But I wasn’t on a mission, I just left.”

“Thats a nice way of saying it,” Superboy glared at La’gaan, “but there is no static on the psychic link. That was stupid and reckless.”

La’gaan snorted, “Yeah shows what you know that wasn’t when I got caught…”

He stopped, and grabbed his head with his hands.

“Except it was… Angelfish what is going on?”

M’gann looked at him softly. Her eye then glowed green for a second, and she gently whispered, “Implanted memories.”

“You were captured during the Mars satellite mission.” Nightwing clarified.

“So than, that other operation?” La’gaan looking back up at the team.

“Fake,” M’gann said squeezing his shoulder, “probably made by the Reach.”

“Neptune’s Beard,” La’gaan sighed, “just when I thought I got myself a fangirl too.”

Superboy rolled his eyes, but any retort was cut off but the radio cutting on. It was Mal’s voice.

_“Hello, Hello, come on guys pick up.”_

Nightwing answered, “Mal what is going on, where are you?”

_“I’m in Blue Beetle’s Bug, over Mount Justice, or what’s left of it. And we could really use some help here.”_

“Blue!” Bart cried standing up “we’ve got to go now.”

Nightwing gave him a steady look from his seat at the helm of the Bioship, “we can’t all go, we’ve got civilians onboard.”

Bart sputtered, “But!”

Nightwing glared at the interruption. “Miss M, Wonder Girl you two can leave as soon as we get over land.” He then addressed M’gann “I trust you know where the Palo Alto Zeta platform is?”

Miss Martian nodded once, steel in her eye.

“There is an additional Zeta platform at Ivy U,” Nightwing continued with a grimace, “if the one in Mount Justice is down.”

“And?” Bart pressed impatient.

Nightwing sighed, “Impulse you can run ahead just don’t…”

Bart didn’t hear the rest of the sentence; he was already falling out of the Bioship. When he hit water, he began to run, and waves went flying behind him. He flashed past the sea, hitting land before running up and over the Rocky mountains. He traveled East past deserts and plains before hitting even more mountains. These were lower and more rounded than the Rockies.

After crossing those mountains it was not long before he saw a smoking crater where Mount Justice once stood. Slowing to a stop, he also saw Blue Beetle, Jaime, standing with his plasma cannon drawn. There were portions of his armor that had bubbled away, leaving behind exposed skin that was cut and scratched.

Bart stopped and watched as another fighter with armor similar to Blue’s but black and gray in color approach. He spoke to Blue Beetle.

“Little brother quit your useless struggle. Come back to the Reach, we will take away all your painful memories. Why suffer because of something that didn’t happen?”

Blue Beetle clenched his fist. He took two full shaky breaths before giving his answer to Black Beetle.

“Never.”

Black Beetle launched himself at Blue. Swinging his arm, reconfigured into a sword, and using his superior bulk to force Blue down. Blue had his own arms built as swords and crossed in front of him. They had stopped Black’s attack. But Bart could see that his arms were shaking from the strain.

Bart responded by grabbing rubble and pitching it at Black Beetle.

Black turned his head towards Bart with an amused smile, “That tickles meat. You’ll…”

He was cut off by Blue Beetle’s plasma blast.

Black Beetle stumbled back three feet, and stretched. Bart ran over to Blue Beetle, who was rubbing where the armor gave way to exposed skin. Bart saw the armor slowly reform. Blue gave Bart a small smile.

“Apparently I don’t do so great against mystic energy.”

Blue Beetle and Bart had eyes locked with Black Beetle. But the standoff was broken when a gruff female voice called from over the ridge.

“Kaldur’ahm is down and they have reinforcements arriving. We are retreating.”

Black Beetle shot forward, “You are not getting away that easy you little Abnormality”

Bart dodged Black's attack and Blue formed a shield and braced. Black Beetle never impacted Blue’s shield. Instead he was jerked back just in front of it by a golden lasso.

Black Beetle grabbed the rope and tossed Wonder Girl directly at Bart.

Bart scrambled out of the way, because getting hit by Wonder Girl would hurt him a lot more than she would get hurt by hitting the ground. And he saw Blue Beetle form both him arms and chest into a massive cannon. He fired a shot before Black Beetle could redirect his attention back to Blue Beetle.

Blue kept up the cannon fire, and Black Beetle was forced backwards, long sparking cracks forming along his armor. Black Beetle retreated into a waiting ship, one of Black Manta’s. Blue Beetle did not pursue. Instead he fell forward onto his knees breathing heavily.

Bart was instantly at his side, followed shortly by Wonder Girl.

Blue Beetle looked at her, “Is he…”

The rest of the question was cut off when Wolf and Sphere appeared. The were closely followed by Blue Beetle, the other one, Ted Kord, who was supporting a blank eyed Miss Martian.

He handed her over to Wonder Girl, and began fiddling with his glove until his personal aircraft, the Bug landed. He then ushered the kids inside. Stopping to give Wolf a firm glare.

“You better be ‘Bug’ trained.”

Wolf huffed at him.

Mal had given up his seat at the radio, and went back to help Cassie with M’gann, who while responsive enough to answer simple questions, did not seem aware of what was going on around her.

Ted directed Jaime to the co-pilot’s chair and then took the helm himself. The ride passed in silence. Only broken by Ted radioing the rest of the team, who had stopped in Taos to drop off the civilians for debriefing and interviews with Black Canary.

He then flew the Bug to the Hall of Justice. Ushering the kids in a back door to the members only area. M’gann sat between a worried Cassie and Mal, while Bart sat with Jaime who was staring off into space.

Ted had pushed back his mask, and was glancing between M’gann, Jaime, and the door. He then sat next to Jaime, and placed a hand on his back.

“You did good kid.”

Jaime didn’t answer.

“No one died or was captured, that’s a victory. And the loss of Mount Justice. Well unfortunately property damage is kinda also a Blue Beetle legacy.”

Jaime gave a small laugh at that.

“Still want to be a Blue Beetle then?”

Jaime looked at Ted, “ _Sí_ ”

Ted grinned wide, “Good, cause it only gets more crazy from here.”

Ted then shrugged, and gestured helplessly towards M’gann, “Listen I’ve got to…”

Jaime gave him a smile, “yeah, I’m fine, do what you need to.”

Bart sat with Jaime squeezing his arm occasionally. And although Jaime didn’t seem as out of it since he had talked to Ted, he would still squeeze his eyes shut.

Bart felt like they waited ages sitting as still as the silence in the room. And in the end it was not Nightwing who came, but rather Wally.

“Nightwing called, we’ve got some cots set up below for those of you living at the cave. It’ll just be tonight. Nightwing is working on something at least a little more permanent.”

Mal nodded but declared, “Right, tonight only.”

He helped M’gann up. And Wally came over to Jaime. “Come on kid, let’s get you downstairs.”

Jaime allowed Wally to pull him to his feet, but did not meet his eyes. Instead he stared at the floor and mumbled, “I am really sorry about the cave.”

“Not _your_ fault kid.” Wally answered through his teeth, before turning “Cassie, Bart, you two should head home, get some rest Okay?”

Bart and Cassie nodded. She headed towards the Zeta tubes and Bart raced out the door and back to the Garret’s home. They had left him a speedster worthy serving of dinner, which he inhaled before collapsing into bed. He had two thoughts ‘what a day’, and ‘what the hell is with all these fake memories’.

When his alarm clock displayed the time 6:27 in glowing red numbers, Bart sat upright wide awake.

Milagro was La’gaan’s fangirl.

Which meant that his fake memories meshed with Jaime’s.

Which meant that the other abductees…

Bart scribbled a note and jumped out of his window. He sprinted towards the Hall of Justice, not caring about the hour. When he got there only Superboy was awake. Although both Jaime and M’gann were missing from their cots.

Bart did not waste a second before addressing Conner. “Where’s Blue?”

Conner shrugged “He said he needed to get some air late last night, and I haven’t seen him since.”

Bart stood on his tiptoes to get right into Conner’s face, “and you didn’t stop him?”

“I’ve been there,” Conner didn’t step back, but he didn’t return Bart’s angry glare either, “it would have only done more harm than good.”

Bart sprinted away from the Hall of Justice. He initially angled towards Texas, but got second thoughts after remembering how big the desert was. Searching the desert alone and on foot would be his last resort.

He changed directions, and raced towards Hub city. Running through the walls at Kord Industries, and racing to the top floor.

Despite the hour Ted was in his office, nursing a steaming cup of coffee. He had blueprints and forms strewn over his desk, while spinning a pen idly. He looked up when Bart entered, but did not seem shocked.

“I haven’t seen Blue Beetle, er, Jaime, and I need to find him. There is something important. He… The other hostages we rescued they might have memories. I would bet that La’gaan remembers…”

Ted held up his hand. “Slow down Impulse. I haven’t seen Jaime since last night, but the Bug might be able to track him.”

Bart followed Ted down a hidden moving shaft and into an underground layer.

“Welcome to the Beetle Cave, it at least twice as cool as the Bat Cave,” Ted gestured, “Mostly because I can get into this one, and it’s where the Bug is kept.”

He then walked up ramp that was extended from the front of the Bug. Bart gave the Cave, with a quick once over. It was definitely cool. Part crime fighting center, part inventor’s workshop. He was distracted from poking any of the inventions in progress when he heard Ted call quietly, “Found him.”

Bart was at Ted’s side in a second. He looked at the control panels of the Bug. But nothing was lit up.

“Really where?”

Ted just pointed towards the co-pilot’s chair. And Bart turned and looked. Jaime was awkwardly slumped there. His eyes were closed and his breathing steady and deep. He was fast asleep.

Ted was already at the back of the Bug, pulling out a hidden cot and blanket from the Bug’s side panels. He then walked back to Jaime and muttered, “I am really glad that he’s out of his armor.”

With that Ted picked Jaime up with a grunt and carried him to the cot. Jaime didn’t wake up, but he did stretch out once he was no longer confined to the chair.

Ted ushered Bart out of the Bug.

“For now, I think, we should let him sleep.”

Bart nodded.

“He’s had a very rough few days, and I would venture to guess that he’s the kind of guy that’ll take the world on his shoulders, so he feels like he’s being a burden if he grieves in front of others. And he is, he’s grieving and I don’t blame him. And it’s got to be stressful not to have somewhere to go to.”

“Hence him breaking into the Bug?” Bart jerked his head towards the vehicle.

“Exactly. But there won’t be a next time. Because he is getting a damn key. The Blue Beetle is above breaking into his Beetle Cave.”

Ted laughed, then handed Bart a pager he seemed to pull out from under spare parts. “I’ll let you know when he wakes up, and is ready for visitors.”

Bart scuffed his foot against the ground, “Right.”

“Also,” Ted said, pulling out cash from his wallet, “You should bring back some breakfast when I call. Sound like a plan?”

Bart spent the next hour or so racing around Hub city. He had taken a look at every menu in town at least twice when the pager went off. Bart jumped. He ran and bought as much breakfast as he could carry, before speeding back to the Beetle Cave.

When Bart got there Jaime had just exited the shower. His hair was still wet, but he was already dressed in his usual hoodie and jeans combo. He smiled when he saw Bart ladened with food.

Jaime didn’t eat much of the offered breakfast. Instead opting for just orange juice, bacon and toast. Bart waited till both Ted and Jaime had finished, before devouring the rest of the meal.

As soon as Bart was finished he grabbed Jaime’s arm.

“Now can we go? There’s something you really need to see.”

As soon as Jaime nodded, and Ted pointed out the location of the Cave’s Zeta platform, Bart started pulling Jaime. Once they got onto the Platform, Bart specified Taos and the two of them disappeared in a flash of golden light.   

As soon as they arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs Bart began dragging him around. He pushed Jaime into various observation rooms. After three rooms of not recognizing anyone, Bart was drumming his fingers like crazy. Then in the fourth room he noticed Jaime’s brow scrunched in confusion.

“I know that kid, or someone who looks exactly like him… with the same genetic signature…” Jaime rubbed the back of his neck and shifted from foot to foot, “he’s a friend from second period. We were starting to get close before he ran away. I tried to stop him. You know, for what’s it’s worth.”

Bart grinned and pulled him onwards. Jaime started to protest, but Bart assured him, “We’ll come back”

After the next room, held no one that Jaime recognized, Bart let him go and disappeared down the hall. he was looking for that red head who went toe to toe with the Reach during their escape. When he found the room that she was in he raced back to Jaime. Grabbing his arm again, he pulled him into the dim room with a large window. On the other side, in a brightly lit room the red headed girl was putting her fingernail against the glass. She knocked on the window twice and then gave a wave, although she was not looking directly at either of them.

Jaime put his hand to the glass, “Brenda?”

He took several deep breaths to before starting towards the door, “I’m going.”

Bart grabbed his arm, “hold on hermano.”

“I’m not going to spy on my best friend.” Jaime whispered, not taking his eyes off the window side of the one way mirror.

“Just hold on, we don’t know if she knows you yet.” Bart explained grabbing his arm, “They’re not going to ask anything private.”

Jaime sat. He was watching her and clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. Bart was sure that Jaime’s fingernails were digging deep into his palm as well.

Black Canary soon entered the room. She sat down and gave Brenda a patent smile. “As you may have realized…”

Brenda sat across the table from her, and looked her straight in the eye, “Yeah yeah two sets of memories, I know.”

“Then you must realize,” Black Canary continued, “that only one reflects reality.”

“Yes, of course. I mean I already know which one is real.”

“You do?”

Brenda didn’t hesitate, “Yeah. It’s the happy one.”

“Why do you figure that?”

“Well,” Brenda began, raising an eyebrow, “the happy one would inspire me to do things, like you know, stop alien invasions. It’d push me to get my aunt’s help, for example. The sad one wouldn’t make me want to do much at all, much less fight back.”

Black Canary nodded, “We are trying to fight these aliens, the Reach. And we have reason to believe that there are clues to their plan in the implanted memories. It could be very useful to us if you would tell us about these fake memories. Is that alright with you?”

Brenda pursed her lips before declaring, “Fine. They’re mostly just me living with my dad. At least until he died from a DUI after, er, sending me to the hospital.”

Bart turned from Brenda when Jaime made a strangled sound at that statement. His eyes were scrunched closed, and he gave a small pained smile.

Bart grabbed his arm and squeezed gently.

“No it’s ok,” Jaime didn’t look at Bart, “I’m glad we didn’t go right in. If her memories with me are the ones where she had to go through that. Not seeing her again. Well, it’s worth it if she gets to forget that pain.”

Bart looked back up, Brenda was still talking.

“…school was a nightmare too, no one really talked to me. And those who did, it’s like they were walking on eggshells around me. Worried that everything would make me break. And it was lonely, damn lonely, not to have a single person who saw me as me and not just a thing broken by my dad.”

Bart threw his arms around Jaime and pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“No I guess,” Jaime shrugged leaning into the embrace, “I guess I just let everyone down.”

“You can’t feel guilty because of those memories.”

“If I can’t feel guilty from them, then I can’t be happy from them either.” Jaime pulled away and rubbed his head, “I mean I think I’d like to be the man that the kid I remember would grow into. But you know, to do that I’ve got to accept it as my past, and live up to it. Learn and grow from it. But still, I’m not going to drag my friend back into horrible memories just so that I’m a little less lonely in that past.”

In the other room Bart watched as Black Canary handed Brenda a tissue. She didn’t take it to her eyes right away, just kept it clenched it in her fist.

“But I can kinda tell they’re fake.” She continued, “I mean a lot of the days just float together. Always the same. Like some kind of nothing haze. That would be easy to fake. The other memories, they are sharper, intricate. I mean hell I’m kicking myself for not setting the damn TeVo before getting captured.”

Bart hit Jaime’s shoulder.

Black Canary narrowed her eyes, “So what’s the difference between the fake reality and the real one?”

“I thought you just needed the fake one?”

“Could you humor me please?”

Brenda shrugged, “sure, I mean they’re pretty much the same. But in my _real_ memories, I had friends. Just two close ones, but they made all the difference.”

Jaime’s breath caught in his throat, and Brenda kept talking.

“It sounds stupid, but they just made me feel safe to just be myself, you know.”

“Made?” Black Canary questioned, “past tense?”

Brenda gave a half smile. “Yeah. I mean I heard the stories from some of the others. In El Paso, people started dying, and then everyone disappeared. Last time I talked to them I promised I’d record some dumb wrestling show for Paco. And I didn’t. And I know he’s probably gone. Maybe Jaime made it out, he had that weird beetle rock. But he wouldn’t leave everyone not if they had even the slightest chance.”

Brenda used the tissue then, and Black Canary sighed.

“Brenda, please I’m sorry but I need you to bare with me. The best way to deal with it is the truth. And unfortunately Brenda, the truth is El Paso never existed.”

“No.” Brenda glared and cut off Black Canary, “That is not true. And you, you’re just covering it up. It was the Justice League then, who caused everything. Why on Earth?”

“Brenda, the Reach wanted to use you,” Black Canary stated calmly, “and maybe your aunt or any other connections against us. But you are a smart young woman Brenda. You deserve to know the truth.”

“Oh so the Reach just made me hallucinate friends?” She snapped, “Why would they do that?”

“We believe they needed a cover for their agent…”

“So my friends aren’t real?”

Brenda didn’t get to finish her rant. She was cut off by the door to that room opening. Jaime stood in the doorway looking down.

In two steps Brenda had placed herself in front of him. She pushed him on his shoulder.

“If this is your idea of a joke it is not funny, you jerk.”

She enveloped him in a hug. He returned it. And the two of them stood there for a while.

Brenda pulled back first, “Paco, is he going to show up too?”

Jaime didn’t meet her eye, and his voice broke on his one word answer.

“No.”

“That jerk,” Brenda snorted blinking away tears, “what was dieing was too good for him? He had to just cease existing instead?”

“Something like that.”

“And you?” She said touching his shoulder, “You got some nice cozy real life that you’re gonna run back to?”

“No.” Jaime looked away, “This, these memories. Brenda, they’re all I have.”

When neither Jaime nor Black Canary made a move to explain, Bart rushed to his side. “He’s the Reach’s ex-agent. We rescued him three days ago. Right around the time he woke up, or was er… born, so to say.”

Brenda raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

Jaime only nodded in response, he did not turn to look at her.

“I swear to god, if you make a single joke about diaper changing, or not having to wear pants because you are technically a baby…”

“Come on,” He said looking up at her, giving a small grin, “I’m not Paco.”

“I know.”

“So,” Jaime’s shoulders fell, “is this real?”

Brenda looked at him, “As far as I’m concerned, the Reach came in and destroyed El Paso, taking away a lot of our loved ones. Pretty sure that loss and the fact that they caused it is real, don’t you think?”

Jaime nodded, “Yeah.”

She grabbed his hand, “So here’s the plan, we are going to use their own plan against them and kick the Reach off this planet. Sound good?”

Jaime looked at Bart then back at her and smiled, “Yeah that sounds good.”


End file.
